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Product: Canon PowerShot G1 X
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Price: $799
What It’s Good For: Shooting great photos in challenging situations (like moving targets or low light) without the hassle of a full-featured DSLR.
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Who It’s Good For: Budding photographers who want to level-up from everyday point-and-shoots or pros looking for a secondary camera.
Limitations: The retro design takes some getting used to, and it falls down on extreme close-ups.
Bottom Line: The camera delivers on its promise of shooting great pics, but it's the compact and cool design you're really paying for.
In the camera world, the Canon PowerShot G1 X is what you might call a dual citizen. It's technically a point-and-shoot camera, but it also has many of the features of a more-professional digital SLR. This unique toolset gives the G1 X not just one ideal customer, but two: Casual photographers who are ready to upgrade from everyday point-and-shoots, and pros looking for a decent backup camera.
This model will satisfy both. It takes great photos, thanks mostly to the large 1.5-inch CMOS sensor that rivals even the recent Micro Four Thirds cameras in size. However, the G1 X's unusual hybrid nature means users from both ends of the spectrum will need to deal with a learning curve. It's a camera that you have to get to know.
Design Quirks
After laying your eyes on it, the extra time spent learning the camera won't seem like such a burden. The G1 X has an alluring design that's boxy and retro, with dials everywhere. At about a pound, it weighs more than most point-and-shoots, but it also feels great in your hands and won't weigh you down when it's hanging from your neck. The lens is nice and big, but only does 4x zoom -- okay, but not quite on par with today's superzoom point-and-shoots.
Yet, the atypical design has a price in ease of use. The G1 X has more dials than even your typical DSLR, and they don't always do what you think they should. For example, the flash pops up delightfully from a rectangular slot on the left side of the camera -- but the fact that it doesn't do so automatically in full-auto mode is unfortunate.
In Action
If you take the time to learn all the nooks and crannies of this camera -- and given the target customer(s), you should be willing -- you'll be rewarded with some truly excellent pictures. The image sensor does great things for color and for low-light situations. It also has the ability to take photos in RAW format -- if you do so in JPEG+RAW mode (capturing both), former point-and-shooters will finally see what they've been missing.
The G1 X also has many nice extras. The viewfinder is a welcome presence (a rarity on point-and-shoots), though the articulating LCD -- something many high-end DSLRs don't have -- is so advantageous that it makes the viewfinder almost completely redundant.
Face recognition is a worthy addition and the camera bestows the added bonus of making it programmable. Just identify Timmy, and the camera can prioritize keeping him in focus above everyone else, on every shot. Finally, the camera displays short tutorial-like instructions on what specific menu icons mean when you select them, which I found extremely useful.
Low light is another area where the camera really shines. Better low-light photography is one of the main reasons a casual shutterbug would want to upgrade, and even if you primarily use the automatic modes, you'll find that photos have better detail and don't blur as readily as those taken with typical point-and-shoots.
One weakness I did find was with macro photography, or the extreme close-up. Many cameras fall short with this, but the G1 X was particularly aversive to getting in-focus shots of anything closer than 12 inches. It's too bad, because it performs with aplomb (or at least surprising competence) in virtually all other situations.
The Bottom Line
In its entirety, the feature set on the G1 X makes it difficult to justify spending $799 on it -- $250 more than Canon's entry-level DSLR, the Rebel T3. Ultimately it's for people who specifically don't want a DSLR but still want to take great photos. For that small but assured audience, the quirky Canon PowerShot G1 X is relationship material.
Canon G1 X
The Canon G1 X ($799) is a point-and-shoot camera that boasts many features common on DSLR models.
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Series presented by the Sprint Galaxy Nexus
The Summer Gadget Series is presented by the Galaxy Nexus from Sprint. Android 4.0, Google Wallet and Google Play make it pure Google. Truly Unlimited data from Sprint makes it unstoppable. Check it out.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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